by Mary Grow VASSALBORO, ME — Vassalboro Budget Committee members continued their pre-town-meeting work at a March 15 meeting. They reviewed the third draft of the proposed municipal budget, and heard more details about the Vassalboro Public Library trustees’ plans. Town Manager Mary Sabins had amended the earlier budget proposal by increasing recommended amounts for […]
by Mary Grow VASSALBORO, ME — At their March 17 meeting, Vassalboro Select Board members recommended ways to spend part of the town’s $231,692.56 in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and discussed amending the town’s Marijuana Business Ordinance, approved by voters in June 2021. They had anticipated two marijuana ordinance issues, a virtual […]
by Mary Grow Aroostook War Many historians don’t take the Aroostook War seriously. Several sources call it the Pork and Beans War; Wikipedia says the nickname is based on either the local lumbermen’s or the British soldiers’ staple food. Some of the local histories cited earlier in this series don’t even mention the war. Alma […]
by Mary Grow Vassalboro Budget Committee members started their second meeting on March 10 with a wrap-up of the previously discussed 2022-23 public works budget proposal. They moved on to solid waste, and then stopped until they have updated estimated fuel costs, which will affect several budget areas. The price of paving material fluctuates with […]
by Mary Grow China Planning Board members have unanimously approved an application for an expansion of Sunraise Investments’ planned solar farm on the south side of Route 3, between South China Village and Dirigo Corner. Board members held a very short public hearing on the revised application March 8. There were no comments from the […]
by Mary Grow China Transfer Station Committee members agreed unanimously on two recommendations at their March 8 meeting. They will ask select board members to provide help – perhaps an intern – to analyze data from the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) system that keeps track of vehicles entering the transfer station. Committee Chairman Lawrence Sikora […]
Consolidated: expansion “not likely” in the short term by Mary Grow China Broadband Committee (CBC) members continued consideration of possibilities for offering residents expanded and improved internet broadband service at a March 9 meeting. They came to no conclusions. Committee members have been talking with representatives of Spectrum Communications and Consolidated Communications, the two companies […]
by Mary Grow Six weeks ago, at the Jan. 31 China Select Board meeting, board Chairman Ronald Breton and members Blane Casey and Wayne Chadwick outvoted Jeanne Marquis and Janet Preston to include a 3 percent wage increase for town employees in their proposed 2022-23 municipal budget. Marquis and Preston supported Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood’s […]
by Mary Grow The China Planning Board has scheduled a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 22, in the town office meeting room, on three proposed ordinance changes. The amendments to Chapter 2 and Chapter 11 of the Land Use Ordinance and the new Chapter 8 titled “Solar Energy Systems Ordinance” are to be […]
by Mary Grow Brigadier General John Chandler, profiled in the February 24 issue of The Town Line, was not the only area resident to have served in the Revolutionary army and again in 1812. Nor were these two wars the end of disagreements between the United States, and specifically the State of Maine, and Britain […]